Afghanistan: A Decade of War, Nearing an End—PICTURES

By Barrett Holmes Pitner

Updated: May 3, 2012 | 1:59 p.m.
May 3, 2012 | 12:18 p.m.

For more than a decade, tens of thousands of U.S. and allied troops—dispatched after Sept. 11—have fought in Afghanistan. Now, the NATO mission is beginning to wind down and the U.S. is preparing to withdraw its troops. Here's a look at key moments from the past 11 years.

Omil Carrasquillo of the New York National Guard rests on Chambers Street in New York City on Sept. 13, 2001, after overnight guard duty. The sign ("President Bush: Declare War on Afghanistan Tonight!") is taped in a restaurant window. The World Trade Center towers collapsed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (MARK LENNIHAN/AP)

In this Oct. 7, 2001, file photo, President Bush poses in the Treaty Room of the White House in Washington after announcing airstrikes on Afghanistan. Bush said he didn't care how Osama bin Laden was brought to justice--just get him. That was back in 2001, when Bush used bravado to lead the nation past the shock of the airliner hijackings. (HILLERY SMITH GARRISON/AP)

This file television footage in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, Dec. 1, 2001, shows John Walker Lindh (right) claiming to be an American Taliban volunteer. (APTN/AP)

Hamid Karzai (left), then-interim prime minister of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, greets Afghans on the road from Kabul to Jebal Saraj, on his way to pray at the grave of slain opposition leader Ahmid Shah Massood in the Bazarak district, 120 kilometers north of the Afghan capital in December 2001. (MARCO Di LAURO/AP)

A soldier from the 10th Mountain Division escorts Qaida suspects from Shibergan prison in northern Afghanistan on Dec. 29, 2001. The suspects were moved from the prison in Shibergan south to a staging area in Kandahar, where the American military is holding dozens more. (SSGT. CECILIO RICARDO/AP/US AIR FORCE)

U.S. Maj. Gen. Jeffery J. Schloesser (left) salutes U.S. soldiers on his arrival at an American base in Nuristan province, Afghanistan, on Sept. 1, 2008. U.S. forces in Afghanistan increased offensive operations against militants in the winter of 2008 because insurgents were increasingly staying in the country to prepare for spring attacks. (RAHMAT GUL/AP)

An Afghan man displays a shirt showing President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Aug. 21, 2009. Campaign teams for Karzai and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah each positioned themselves as the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election, one day after millions of Afghans braved dozens of militant attacks to cast ballots. (KEVIN FRAYER/AP)

An Afghan woman with her child passes by a poster of Karzai pasted on a jewelry shop's window in Kabul in September 2009. Major fraud complaints in the Afghan presidential election had surged to nearly 700. (RAFIQ MAQBOOL/AP)

President Obama and Afghan President Karzai walk together before they sign a strategic partnership agreement at the presidential palace in Kabul on May 2, 2012. (CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP)

An Afghan man looks at burning materials set ablaze by angry villagers after a raid supposedly conducted by U.S. troops in Kabul on Sept. 1, 2008. The raid killed a man named Nurullah and two of his children and wounded his wife, a police officer said. First Lt. Nathan Perry, a U.S. coalition spokesman, said that no American troops took part in the operation. (MUSADEQ SADEQ/AP)

President Obama addresses troops at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, on May 2, 2012. (CHARLES DHARAPAK/AP)

Afghan security men and NATO soldiers (right) are seen at the scene of a militant attack in Kabul on May 2, 2012. A suicide car bomber and Taliban militants disguised in burqas attacked a compound housing hundreds of foreigners in the Afghan capital. The Taliban said the attack was a response to Obama's surprise visit just hours earlier. (MUSADEQ SADEQ/AP)

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